I have always liked rice pudding, and even more so since I have gone gluten free. It’s not a lot of work, but you get a creamy, delicious result. This recipe may be easy, but it takes time. Plan on a minimum of two hours for this. It’s not all active time, but this isn’t the dessert to choose when you’re looking for something you can get on the table in half an hour!

I love the surprise of the fresh fruit nestled in between the rice. It adds a different texture and a pop of flavor.

But trust me, this slow bake is worth the wait.

Ingredients:

• 5 Cups Whole Milk
• 1 Tbsp. Salted Butter
• 1 1/4 Cups Uncooked Rice
• 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 Pint Fresh Raspberries, rinsed and dried

Technique:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 F. Using the butter in the recipe, grease an oven proof glass dish. I used a 13 x 9 ceramic one.
2. Pour your uncooked rice into the dish and spread it around. Don’t get too crazy about this step, once the liquid is added everything will move anyway! Place the berries sporadically on top of the rice. In a sauce pan, bring the milk to a boil. Once it’s hot, add the vanilla and sugar and stir to incorporate.
3. Pour the hot liquid over the rice and raspberries. Give it a quick stir to help the rice distribute. Pop into the oven and bake for 1 hour, stirring after the first 10 minutes to redistribute the rice again.
4. After one hour, take a look at the texture. If the rice is cooked and you like a thinner pudding, you can stop here. However, if you like it thicker and creamier,  you may want to keep going. If you’re looking for more of a custard, reduce the heat to 300 F and bake for another half hour. I like mine almost so thick you can shape it, so I always keep going.
5. Serve hot, ideally with fresh whipped cream 🙂 I like to garnish with fresh, cool berries too. Can you really have too many berries? I don’t think so.

Tips:

You can use any berry you like – just don’t use frozen. They tend to add too much water as they defrost while you’re baking.

Switch out the extract if you don’t like vanilla – almond is delicious too! Or coconut if you’re feeling tropical.

This keeps in the fridge for a few days, just take it out and microwave it for 20-40 seconds depending on portion size when you’re ready to serve up some more.